Staff Reporter :
The leaders of Bangladesh CNG Filling Station and Conversion Workshop Owners Association (BCFSCWOA) have said that the refilling stations have been incurring a loss of Tk 10 crore per day due ongoing political turmoil in the country.
They said the total sale in the CNG filling stations has fallen around 80 percent while the owners are facing life threat from the blockaders to keep shut the stations.
“We, the owners of the CNG filling stations outside Dhaka, are passing our days in utmost insecurity since January 6, as blockaders threatened us to shut the installations or face dire consequence. This situation cannot continue anymore,” Masud Khan, Convenor of BCFSCWOA, said in a press conference in the city on Saturday. Expressing shock over the ongoing political turmoil, he also urged both the government and opposition to sit in dialogue to make the situation normal and business friendly environment in the country.
In this backdrop, the BCFSCWOA placed four-point demand to the government to protect this sector from total disruption.
The demands include: rescheduling of payment against bank loan at least one year without charging interest, allowing payment of gas bills through installments for one year without disconnecting gas lines, stop treating CNG station owners as loan defaulters until the return of a normal business environment, and ensure security of the CNG sations’ owners.
“The transport sector in general and CNG refueling sector in particular are the worst victims to the political confrontation as our business has already collapsed,” Masud Khan said.
He said most of the country’s 585 refueling stations now cannot pay wages to their employees. “We can’t afford it anymore. We urge both the ruling and opposition to save us from the ruination,” he said.
He mentioned that many stations have already turned out as defaulters failing to pay gas and electricity bills to the authorities concerned.
